Patient Padraig remains focussed

PÁDRAIG Harrington yesterday demonstrated why he is one of the most popular personalities in world golf.

During a 50-minute visit to the media centre, he conducted a full official press conference, co-operated fully in three lengthy radio interviews and then answered questions on just about every conceivable subject with a small band of lingering reporters. And all without the slightest signs of irritation or impatience.

All of this in spite of the fact that his father, Paddy, is in hospital in Dublin continuing his battle with cancer and that he himself missed the cut in the Booz Allen tournament in Washington at the weekend.

"There were a few times last week when I thought I'd be going home but dad is a lot more comfortable now and the word is that he may be out of hospital over the next day or two and things should be all right," he said.

"I'm fine when out on the golf course but it is difficult and it is weighing on my mind."

A few American journalists attempted to spice the situation up, pointing out that Sunday is Father's Day and wondering if there was a special memory that Pádraig could share with them. He wasn't having any of that as he politely but firmly responded:

"My dad is comfortable and I have so many special memories that there would be too many to go through."

But even he was stretched to find a suitable reply when asked: "if you win here, will you celebrate with a mineral water or half a Guinness."

The best he could manage was "neither, it'll be something else. I'll wait and see. Who knows with me."

Harrington was far more at home when discussing the Rory Sabbatini-Ben Crane controversy that erupted at Congressional on Sunday.

He agreed that: "Sabbatini would have a lot of support among other players for what he did but it's slightly different because he happened to pick on a very nice guy."

Developing the point, he stressed that: "the slow play issue is dealt with a lot more firmly in Europe. When Ernie Els was put on the clock in the Masters a couple of years ago, it was a European referee who did it. We're all on the clock all of the time back home. Over here it's different."

Harrington and his caddy, Ronan Flood, love tinkering with gadgets and this time the centre of attention is a Suunto watch, made by a subsidiary of his club manufacturers Wilson. It tells the time but a whole lot more as well as Pádraig tried to explain.

"It tells how fast my swing is, what percentage of the swing was spent on the downswing and the angle of the downswing. And it tells the clubhead speed. Today, it told me my swing took 1.23 seconds. By using it, I've learned that my swing on the course is two tenths of a second quicker than on the practice range. It's good to know that. It's magic."

Other than that, he couldn't have been more forthcoming, answering a question about the American-Europe rivalry with disarming honesty:

"I couldn't care less about the others. I only care about myself. I'd prefer to see an American friend win than a European who is not a friend."

He visited Pinehurst six weeks ago and having played 36 holes there over the past couple of days, feels the hard work has been done and now it's time for rest and getting in focus.

"It's Tuesday so I would always assess my game as pretty shabby at this stage. I'm the sort of guy who on Tuesday is trying to get everything together. I always look to my weaknesses before a tournament and try to get them up to strengths. Every major is a case of I'd like another week. I'm finding the rough very difficult, I'm not getting any distance out of it so it's very important for me to hit a lot of fairways this week. The greens are very firm and the target areas are very small. Augusta is definitely a lot more generous than here. The ball tends to sweep into the pins at Augusta. Here, it's always running away from them."

And finally, has he set himself a winning target score for the week?

The answer was immediate and adamant: "I try never to go there. I don't like picking out numbers because I just want to shoot the lowest score. There's no point in me setting a goal of level par or three under par. It just doesn't work. You've just got to try to play the best you can and see where that leads you."